If you had to pick your Fourth of July picnic location based solely on past weather, where does the climate record say you'll have the least chance of rain? Our interactive map shows historic odds of rain on your parade.

Thanks to warming winters and thawing permafrost, Arctic soil microbes are churning out carbon dioxide well after the end of the growing season ends. This extra source of atmospheric carbon may accelerate a regional warming trend that is already twice as fast as the global average.

Between the weekly forecast and a seasonal outlook—and often less accurate than both—sit “sub-seasonal” weather predictions. In this profile, atmospheric scientist Libby Barnes talks about her work leading a NOAA task force whose members are trying to overcome the special challenges of forecasting over the 2-week to 2-month horizon.

A black swan event is a situation so rare that few people would have imagined it was possible. In November 2016, researchers were caught off guard by just such an event: extremely low sea ice extents in both the Arctic and Antarctic.

Blocked for decades by an impassable dam, 11.2 miles of prime habitat are now open to endangered Caifornia coho salmon. Access to the upper stream elevations will make the salmon and steelhead trout that migrate into the Russian River watershed to spawn much more resilient to temperature and drought extremes.